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Thursday, June 25, 2015

Former Chairman of International Credit Union Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud

Samuel J. Cusumano Jr., 65, of Orlando, Florida, pleaded
guilty yesterday afternoon to wire fraud in connection with his fraudulent
solicitation of more than $17 million from 400 investors of the
Swedish-registered Storehouse Credit Union.The guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Pamela C. Marsh for the
Northern District of Florida.

During his plea, Cusumano admitted that between 2007 and
2009, as the chairman of the board of Storehouse, he promoted the international
credit union as a high yield investment opportunity through intentionally
misleading presentations and materials.Cusumano fraudulently induced investors to transfer monies to investment
accounts under Cusumano’s control by misrepresenting the rates of return being
generated by the business.He falsely
claimed that Storehouse used professional currency traders when, in fact,
Cusumano personally executed all trades from his home, investing primarily in
the Foreign Currency Exchange Market.Although the business was actually losing money, Cusumano created
fraudulent financial statements to convince investors that Storehouse was
reaching or exceeding the high rates of return that Cusumano had promised
them.When investors discovered that
they were unable to withdraw their funds due to trading losses, a financial
audit was conducted.The audit revealed
that investor funds had been depleted, that earnings had been overstated and
that Cusumano had used a large portion of the investors’ funds to pay personal
expenses.Investors resided in the
United States, including in the Northern District of Florida, Canada, Great
Britain and Australia.

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 22, 2015, at 12:30 p.m. at
the U.S. Courthouse in Gainesville, Florida.Cusumano faces a maximum of 20 years imprisonment.

The charges result from an investigation by the Internal
Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation
and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation.The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory P.
McMahon.